Category Archive

It’s been a while since I posted. I’ve been doing a bunch of travelling, running, writing, and video-game-developing and I’ve been neglecting the site. I did get time to submit a new horror short story to The Other Stories, a fantastic weekly horror story podcast, and I am extremely please to say that they accepted it. It’s part of their Japan themed series and you can listen to it right now by clicking here. I listened to the podcast on Monday and it’s fantastic. I’ll definitely be listening to it again. A huge thank you to everyone at Hawk & Cleaver, and especially narrator Justin Fife and editor Karl Hughes. Sign up to my newsletter to stay updates on my writing, details of new releases and sales, and advance copies of my books. You’ll also get a book of short stories plus two bonus novellas, completely free. CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR FREE BOOKS [Out Now – Dakimakura by Philip Harris first appeared on Solitary Mindset on 28th June 2018]

I’m starting a bit of an experiment on my newsletter this week. When I was young, I spent a lot of time reading Fighting Fantasy books like this one: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain and books like it were “choose your own adventure” books that let you control the story by making decisions as you read. There were quite a few of them around at the time but the Fighting Fantasy series was the best. A couple of months ago I decided to steal the idea and do something new with my newsletter. Every month I’m going to post a piece of a short story and give readers the chance to vote on two or three possible options for what happens next. At the beginning of the month I sent subscribers three possible first lines: Night was coming and with it, the creatures. My name is Eric Hunter and my job is to stop the world from falling apart. What I left behind on Earth was more important than anything I took with me. The votes are in and I’ve written the first scene for the most popular choice. I’ll be sending that first scene (along with the next options) … Read More

I’m currently revising some of my short stories for a collection I’ll be releasing later this year, and I thought I’d post some unedited snippets here. This is from Two Nights in New Orleans, a story that was originally published in a magazine produced by the British Fantasy Society… Two Nights in New Orleans Annabel held her breath, “Are you a vampire?” The man stared at Annabel, the smile returning to his lips. This time she managed to hold his gaze. The world around her faded to nothing and Annabel thought they might sit there all night, but after a few seconds he looked away, out across the stone sea of the cemetery. Belinda shifted position, rearranged the black lace of her new dress and leant back against the tomb, “So what’s your name?” “Ah. That’s an interesting question.” Belinda looked unimpressed, “Is it?” “What do you think my name should be?” Annabel shook her head, “I’ve no idea.” “Go on, indulge me. Christen me.” Annabel looked at him for a moment before latching onto a name, “Simon.” “Really? I look like a Simon? Well I can’t say I’ve ever been called Simon.” “You look like a Versailles to me,” said … Read More

A little while ago, I posted details of a big giveaway I was part of. That’s ended now, but here’s another one. This time there’s 26 free books, plus a couple of chances to win a $20 Amazon gift card. You can download a copy of my short story, Curfew, but there’s a lot of other great looking books as well. More than enough to keep you busy for a few weeks. Sign up for my newsletter and get a year of stories, completely free. CLICK HERE to get started. [Get Over 100 Free Books by Philip Harris first appeared on Solitary Mindset on 25th October 2016]

For the last few months, I’ve been giving everyone who subscribes to my mailing list, four free ebooks – Bottled Lightning, Saviour, Curfew and Only Friends. The stories are a starter library of sorts and serve as a good introduction to my writing. This year, I wanted to go a bit further so I’m launching A Year of Stories. Every month I’m going to send my newsletter subscribers a short story. It might be something completely new, it might be an older story that’s not available any more or it might be something a little bit “different”. There’ll be a range of genres as well – I write anything from science fiction to urban fantasy to Lovecraftian horror and the monthly stories will span the whole range. The stories will go out at the end of every month and the first will be arriving in inboxes this weekend. Of course, everyone who subscribes will still get the four ebooks. All you have to do to sign up is CLICK HERE and enter your email address in the box. Easy. [Get a Year of Stories by Philip Harris first appeared on Solitary Mindset on 26th January 2016]

Earlier in the month, The Leighgendarium posted an interview with me and as part of the feature I ran a giveaway for a free copy of Glitch Mitchell and the Unseen Planet. Entry to the giveaway involved inventing a cliffhanger involving Glitch that I would then use to write a new short story. I picked a winner at random and ended up with Glitch being trapped in Donald Trump’s hair! After some deliberation, I spent last Monday writing Glitch Mitchell and the Deadly Follicle and it was posted on The Leighgendarium on Friday. If you’d like to know how Glitch, Anderson and Doctor Zheng ended up in such a dire situation, and if they manage to escape – you can read the story here. It was a lot of fun to write, and hopefully as much fun to read. For a limited time you can pick up Glitch Mitchell and the Unseen Planet on all ebook platforms including Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada, Kobo, Nook and iBooks for just 99c. The paperback edition is also as cheap as I can make it – $10.95. You can find out more about my upcoming releases, and get four FREE books by signing up for my newsletter here. [Out Now – Glitch Mitchell and the Deadly Follicle by Philip Harris first appeared on … Read More

This blog post could end my indie career. I don’t normally write about political or other emotionally charged subjects, but I can no longer stay silent on the subject of the editor, David Gatewood. Like so many people, I’ve been taken in by his charade. I’ve bought the books he’s edited, watched him on social media, lamented the fact he’s no longer accepting clients. I know now that I, like so many others, have been duped. On the surface, David Gatewood, is just a man helping indie authors find success in the new world of publishing. On the surface, he’s a kind man, a gentle man, a generous man. But the information I’ve uncovered over the last nine months paints a very different picture. A picture of a man intent on using his position of power to unleash darkness on the world. A picture of a man that must be stopped. This is a long post, far longer than my normal entries but the information it contains might save your life. I urge you to take the time to read it. Gatewood’s rise to fame is well known. He appeared out of nowhere, contacting the then up and coming indie … Read More

To celebrate the launch of my science fiction novella, The Girl in the City (available from Amazon for 99c/99p – US UK Canada) I’ve decided to make all three of my Kindle short stories free for the next couple of days. And of course, you can get a free copy of Only Friends by subscribing to my newsletter. Curfew [raw] [/raw] Violent gangs roam the streets of a city in chaos, preying on the innocent and the careless. Friends die. Family die. But there are worse things in the darkness. Worse things beyond the curfew. Download for free from Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada Saviour [raw] [/raw] For Yuki, the cave is a sanctuary. It’s somewhere she can shelter from the deadly heat of the sun until winter comes. If she can survive that long. Download for free from Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada Bottled Lightning [raw] [/raw] For husband and wife team, Alex and Lisa, the trip across the volcanoes of Mars is a chance to escape the monotony of life at Gale Crater. But now they’ve found something, or someone, and everything is about to change. Download for free from Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada Only Friends [raw] [/raw] My short story, Only Friends was originally published in … Read More

I’ve been talking about my own stories a lot recently so to redress the balance a bit, here’s five stories from Daily Science Fiction that I enjoyed. Simon Says by Nina Kiriki Hoffman Dust by Edward Ashton Kitty is Alive, Kitty is Dead by Jennifer Campbell-Hicks Do Not Count the Withered Ones by Caroline M. Yoachim The Strongest Man in the World by Nathaniel Lee If you aren’t already subscribed to Daily Science Fiction, it’s well worth signing up – the quality of the stories is usually very high. [“Five Stories I Enjoyed Recently” by Philip Harris first appeared on Solitary Mindset on 17th November 2014]

I don’t really need anything else to read. I have almost 450 books on my Goodreads To Be Read List, another 120 or so unread books on my Kindle that aren’t on Goodreads plus a large number of physical books, comics, graphic novels and magazines. Despite that, I’ve joined Wattpad and started having a look round there as well. Lots of good stuff and I’m already building up a new To Be Read pile to go with all the others. If you’re not familiar with Wattpad, it’s basically a huge online community where authors can post fiction and readers can…well…read. There’s a lot of fan fiction (particularly One Direction fanfic for some reason) but there’s a lot of other work there, including some big names like Cory Doctorow, Margaret Atwood and Hugh Howie. You can read the stories on PC but they also have some excellent mobile apps. Not to be left out, I’ve started posting my own stories, starting with on old favourite – Cag: An Almost True Story. I’ll be posting a few more over the coming weeks, including some new pieces. Sorry, none of it is One Direction fan fiction. If you’re on Wattpad, and you feel like following my updates, I’d be very happy … Read More